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We all love instagram, but what to do with those square photos if you want to print them? It’s hard to find a square frame, and you can’t scale them much larger because of the quality. But I have a solution for you! Instacubes!

Supplies:

Wooden Block
Spray Paint (optional)
Photo Paper
Printer

First find a wood block. They have these wooden cubes at most craft stores. Measure a side of your cube.

Next, set up your favorite 6 instagram photos to print. I made mine a little smaller than each side of my cube so they all had a border, but you can go all the way to the edge as well.

Paint your cube if you like, or keep its wood appearance. Once you’ve printed and cut your instagram photos, spray some spray adhesive to the back of each, and stick it on your cube.

This is a simple, cost-effective, unique way to display your instagram photos. How cute would a bunch of these blocks be stacked up on a shelf? Or even as a fun centerpiece at a wedding filled with photos of the bride and groom! So many possibilities.

I made this Instacube for Katie, one of our winners of our “Photo-a-Day Challenge” on facebook. Be sure to follow us for fun DIY updates and more contests!

Just a couple days ago I received a text message from our friend and former roommate, Sam, asking about the best ways to paint a piece of unfinished wood furniture. In return for our knowledge, she promised to take pictures of the process and send them our way:

Supplies:

Piece of unfinished furniture or wood

Paint or primer

Stain

Paint brushes

A piece of plastic on which to do this, if working on this indoors

Dry cloth or rag

“I took an old Ikea night stand that I have had for years.”

“Stenciled on a design I wanted”

“Took primer and painted the areas I wanted white then used a stain and stained the whole night stand.”

“I took a dry cloth and wiped down the white areas after because they seemed a little sticky but it wasn’t really necessary.”

And there you have it! In just a few simple steps, Sam turned this run-of-the-mill nightstand into a personalized piece with lost of character!

Once upon a time I had a bright orange camera, it was protected by a cute brown and white floral Vera Bradley wallet with a little pocket for my extra battery. Then some how, magically, the camera, case, and extra battery disappeared. I searched high and I searched low, I searched in and I searched out, with no trace in sight. Time was ticking and Saturday Studios were quickly approaching so I gave up and bought a new camera, but a case was out of my budget. Here is my solution:

Supplies:

Leather scraps – or fabric scraps

Embroidery floss

A thicker gauge needle

I traced the outline of my camera on the leather scraps, making sure to leave some room around the edges to take in consideration the thickness of the camera. The leather scraps are placed so that the faces that are touching will become the exterior of the case and what is being traced on is the interior.

Since the leather is pretty hefty, I used large bobby pins to hold it in place while I stitched the two pieces together.

I then used the embroidery floss to do a not-so-professional looking stitch around my template. Then I just trimmed the edges down to a little less than a quarter of an inch from the stitching.

Once it was all stitched, I flipped the leather right side out and stretched into the corners. I tried my camera inside and it fit nice and snug, but was difficult to get in and out of. That is where the brown strip of leather comes in.

I just made a few cross stitches at the bottom seam, top edge and stitched the ends together. This allowed for a small pull on each end of the case to help with putting the camera in and taking it out.

Here is an image of how the top strap just moves to the side while taking the camera out or putting it in. The strap also acts as a catch in case the camera tries to slide out on its own because I assume that over time the leather will naturally stretch a bit. This project took me a little over an hour to whip up and is a simple, customizable way to protect your electronics. I am going to leave mine very plain but this project can be personalized in a million ways – different types of fabrics, paints, bleaching, size it down for a phone, size it up for a laptop!

Chocolate craving + lack of chocolate at home = This recipe. I decided I would try mixing the cocoa powder I had leftover from baking Christmas treats with some of the almond butter I had on hand. Mixed together I got a gross looking paste so I decided to pour some almond milk in to thin it out and somehow that magical combination turned into a decadent chocolate pudding.

Ingredients:

2 tbs almond butter (I’m sure other nut butters would work just as well)

This is what the mixture looks like with just one tbs of almond milk – it is more like a spread so if you’re thinking you want a sort of nutella substitute, stop here.

I add a tiny bit of sea salt to deepen the flavor. Make sure you are tasting as you go, if it’s not sweet enough add some honey, agave, or maple syrup.

The pudding is delicious on it’s own but I like to dip my fruit in it (it makes me feel better about eating this for breakfast) – I usually use Granny Smith apples, but bananas, oranges, and berries all work very well also. This batch makes enough for 1-2 people, but is easily multiplied for larger groups.

Like this:

One of the best ways to save money is by cooking at home, and since this girl is back in school, the budget is tight! When cooking at home, spices are your best friend, but your cabinet’s worst enemy. My spices have completely overtaken an entire shelf of cabinet space and I have been wracking my brain for a solution. Unfortunately I don’t have the space to use magnets and hang them all up in plain sight, or the money to buy a fancy spice rack, so here is the simple solution I came up with.

Supplies:

Box – smaller size, with shallow edges is best

Paint

Sharpie marker

Online shopping is another way to save some dough(as long as you don’t go overboard) because you can find amazing coupon deals and you don’t have to waste gas driving to the store. My most recent purchase came in this box, which is just about the perfect size for my spice collection.

I cut off the top flap and painted the inside of the box white and used some of the gold paint from my last project on the outside. This will take a few coats to cover the natural color of the cardboard. Some other ways you could the cover the box are with patterned paper, fabric, newspaper, magazine images, spray paint, Mod Podge, etc. So go crazy with the personalization!

Here is my disorganized spice cabinet. I have to shuffle them around every time I cook and there is absolutely no rhyme or reason to where they are placed back. What a mess!

While all of my spices don’t fit in the box, the ones I use the most do. This is a huge help because when I go to cook something, I can just take out the entire spice box, rather than running back and forth between the stove and my spice cabinet!

All organized and look at all the space I have now! The stuff that didn’t fit in the box are mainly back-ups that I had purchased because I will be running out of the other one very soon. This quick project can also be just as easily done with a store bought box/basket, tupperware or a serving tray.

This is a super simple way to take a phone case you already have and make it new and fun again.

Supplies:

Phone case

Paint – I used spray paint, but most any kind would work

Seems like almost everyone has moved into the smartphone world, and while the things these phones can do is amazing, they are fragile pieces of technology that really need a case to protect them from accidents.

I bought this case off of Amazon for under $5 and used it as is for months and loved it. The consumer in me won out after a while and I purchased a different case and threw this one into storage for the time being. Then one day I came across a blog that was showing ways to use glitter and paint to create a fun case when it dawned on me that I had some silver chrome spray paint that would make that black case look amazing.

So I laid down some newspaper outside and got spraying!

I let the paint dry overnight before handling it, just to make sure I wouldn’t leave any finger prints on the finish.

All done and ready for a few more months on my phone! Simple, quick, easy and using stuff I already had on hand – it doesn’t get much better than that!

–Heather

Update! After actually putting this case to the test, the paint begins to wear off on your hands a bit so I have gone back and coated the case in a clear gloss lacquer to protect it from further wear.

Like this:

So I have this pillowcase that is probably older than me, and it is subsequently the softest thing I own and one day I noticed a small rip in the fabric. I flipped the pillow over and tried to pretend it would mend itself in my dreams. Unfortunately, life doesn’t work like a fairy tale so I threw it in the wash with my sheets and the rip more than quadrupled in size, which equaled minor devastation. I take pride in my ultra-plush bed that would make the “Princess and the Pea” sleep soundly through the night, so I decided to turn my sad, unusable pillowcase into a piece of art.

Supplies:

Poster frame – or any frame

Fabric

Santa brought me a few large frames for Christmas and I hadn’t gotten around to filling them yet, so when the pillowcase ripped beyond repair, I suddenly had something to frame.

First I ripped the seam of the pillow case to open it up wider and give myself more options for layout. They sell seam rippers at any fabric store, but I didn’t have one on hand and just used some nail clippers and they got the job done just as easily.

Then once the pillowcase was just one large piece of fabric, I laid it out on the cardboard backing for the frame and took a peek at the composition. I was pleasantly surprised with the contrast between the white fabric and brown backing, as well as the black frame. Afterward, I just folded the tabs down on each side, making sure to pull the fabric nice and taught in the frame.

Here you can see what the fabric looks like all framed. A bit of simple, modern-style art using something most people would have thrown away or turned into rags.

My office/studio had some blank walls that were begging for some artwork, so this piece got hung up promptly. While my framed piece of fabric has a bit of sentimentality to it, the project could be done with endless other things – wallpaper, patterned fabric, ribbon, material samples, scrapbook paper etc. In just ten minutes I had turned my unhappy accident into a beautiful piece of art!